SubNormal J3

Content count

782

Joined

May 14, 2008

Last visited

April 24, 2014

About SubNormal J3

Rank

Luigi (+750)

Profile Information

Location

Arizona, USA

Contact Methods

Website URL

http://subnormalj3.blogspot.com/

Converted

Biography

Well, like everyone else around here, I have this unorthodox taste in music. I've been following OCR since it was blue. Joined the forums in 2008. Greatest musical influences outside of VGM are Earth, Wind & Fire and the Anjuna EDM labels.

They must have never had OC ReMix affiliation. I don't see them on these pages: http://www.doulifee.com/Storage/OC_Removed/ http://ocremix.org/info/ReMix_Changelog http://ocremix.org/artist/4354/leebro You had best contact the artist personally.

Congrats on getting posted Teagen. I've taken some time to listen to the original source, and there is a lot of good musical interpretation in this ReMix. 0:00 clearly defines the style 0:49 nice drop and change of style, the fast and light dub-step wabbles sound good, the previous slow ones were a bit overwhelming 0:59 engaging progression 1:35 contrasting section 1:46 extra dissonance 2:03 neat transition and synth solo 2:36 reprise of sorts, works well 3:15 I like those tenor chords, very warm sound 3:21 ending was structurally satisfying Your MIDI skills are quite proficient. There is some great sequencing and arrangement. I can tell that you didn't use a bunch of MIDI patterns. There are also some lush harmonies throughout that glue the track together musically. I can see that you have a certain amount of music theory. The production does have a few shortcomings. Mainly, the volume was consistently too loud; this inhibited effective dynamics. In the future, the standard suite of compression, EQ, and distortion effects can help bring more unique textures to the mix. Overall, despite some rather hostile remarks from others, I enjoyed your mix, and hope to hear more music. Good luck in your future endeavors.

The Debussy and Ravel influence is tastefully apparent, and the addition of more modern elements make this especially enjoyable. Koji Kondo's Zelda works appeal very much to this style. Though my piano skills aren't nearly as proficient as yours, I can still relate. The performance is well done, and that is no easy feat. I remember the many months it took for me to prepare Debussy's Suite Bergamasque IV: Passepied for performance way back when. This genre's unorthodox, broken chords aren't easy to play! Breakdown: 0:00 Excellent variations on the original chords. 0:09 Classy chromatic digression 0:21 I like how you changed these chords. It has a bit of a Super Mario Galaxy flavor to it. 0:42 The intricacies of the rolling harmonies are quite enjoyable. 1:24 the "Jaws" style buildup felt a bit out of Zelda character 1:29 while not strictly part of the source, these chords are engaging 1:48 this motif reminds me of another good piano mix, by Jormungand, on the Xenogears album, "First Meeting - The Shadowed Forest (Forest of the Black Moon) especially at its 4:00 mark 2:10 a nice reinterpretation of the opening following by a simple, but effective ending I'm assuming that this was recorded with a virtual instrument. As for production, it was a bit too soft in terms of loudness compared to other classical recordings I have. I think the main reason for that is that frequency distribution in your track was quite heavy in the lows. I'd have trimmed those down 3db or so, and used that loudness elseware. Aside from that, the rest of the spectrum was very nice, in my opinion. The softer highs gave the track a pleasant, warm sound. If you have any more tracks in the works, I (and I'm sure many others) would love to hear more!

You've got a lot of good going on here. Btw, I recommend putting a link to the original source in a YouTube video. Now as for the mix, the sounds are pretty thin. So I'd either thicken them up by using different patches or synths. Alternatively you can fill the sound scape with more harmonies especially in the strings and keys. Take advantage of polyphony

I like the modular arrangment at the beginning, but the change at 0:55 to the minor 6th in too obvious and lengthy. Try to keep it short and sweet like the original where it quickly bounces down to the minor 3rd. A buildup circa 1:40 is a good idea, but don't pound the keys here. You've gotta save that for later. Nice chord changes at 2:00, but the take-two right before that felt out of place to me. I like how you did some improv circa 2:40, but I'd redo that take several times until you come up with something more unique in the top line and a more dynamic left-hand, especially rhythmically I like the chord changes towards 3:30 or so, but the quick 3/4 pattern starts to lose its charm by 5:00. Try some more interesting syncopations here. Overall, this is a great idea. I don't think we've had a piano solo of this one yet. However, this is one of the cases where more interpretation will almost always be better. So try to come up with some more original chord progressions and whatnot to give this its own special flair. Good luck!

I like the overall vibe. The drums do need some work, especially the cymbals (and possibly open-hat). They cut through too much. I'd vary the use of them, and possibly find another sample. At the very least try to program more velocity changes. It sounds too sequenced. Overall, this is a cool concept. By all means, keep working on it.